There have been several attempts to address the problem of in-flight refueling hoses oscillating in flight during refueling operations. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,007,894; 7,137,597; and 6,866,228; and Published U.S. Application No. 2009/0302160 all incorporated herein by this reference.
To date, however, potential solutions have either not been commercialized, do not result in a hose meeting government specification (e.g., MIL-H-4495D), and/or do not adequately solve the oscillation problem.
The oscillations can result in hose breakage, damage to the refueling aircraft or the aircraft being refueled, and/or potential harm to personnel.